The government yesterday pledged a donation of NT$2 billion (US$65 million) to victims of the Sichuan earthquake via the Red Cross in China.
“We have set up a task force to handle the emergency rescue project. We hope that the public will donate to relief efforts to help Chinese people rebuild their homeland,” Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) told a press conference.
Out of the planned NT$2 billion, NT$700 million will come from a government reserve fund, NT$100 million is in the form of rice, estimated at 20 tonnes, NT$200 million will come from the contribution of one-day’s income from all government employees and the rest is expected come from donations made by the public.
PHOTO: YAO KAI-SHIOU, TAIPEI TIMES
“The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has opened a special account at the Bank of Taiwan ... We welcome donations from everyone,” MAC Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通), in charge of the task force, said, adding that all donations to the government account will be 100 percent tax deductible.
He said that the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF) will inform its counterpart in China, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), of Taiwan’s plan to donate money and goods.
The SEF and ARATS are semi-official agencies authorized to handle relations between Taiwan and China in the absence of formal ties.
Meanwhile, Chen said that the MAC had approved an application filed by the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation and Taiwan’s Red Cross for relief supplies to be sent directly to China on cargo charter flights. The flights are due to leave this morning.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) said that Air Macau had agreed to send resources from Taiwanese civil and religious groups via a direct charter flight to Chengdu at 10am today.
“I have reached an agreement with the MAC ... the first relief charter flight will deliver 46 tonnes of resources, including drinking water, blankets, tents, sleeping bags and, unfortunately, body bags because of the need in the area, to Chengdu tomorrow [today],” he told a press conference.
Chiang said the resources will be distributed by a Taiwanese businesspeople’s association based in Chengdu.
Taiwanese authorities offered to send personnel to help Chinese rescuers on Tuesday morning, but Beijing had not given approval as of yesterday.
“As [China’s] Office of Taiwan Affairs said at its press conference this morning, the disruption of traffic and communications made it difficult for it to help Taiwanese rescuers get to the disaster area,” Chen said.
Despite this, Chen said the government was ready to send a team of rescue workers to China on direct charter flights.
“The 58 rescue workers are awaiting orders to head to China. We can start the charter flights within two hours after Beijing agrees to accept our help,” he said.
“As the cross-Strait humanitarian charter flight is an existing mechanism, we can organize more rescuers anytime to join earthquake relief efforts,” Chen said, “But we haven’t received clear information from China that our rescuers will be allowed in.”
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday asked the premier to work on ways to offer government-to-government assistance.
“We must not only express our intention but also take action,” he said.
As well as instructing the Executive Yuan to integrate all resources to offer humanitarian relief to China, the president said he would like to see the public contribute.
Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said he would personally donate NT$200,000 and help raise NT$800,000 more to fund a search and rescue team from Kaohsiung City if Beijing allows the team to offer its services.
Taiwan has experience of the reconstruction required in the aftermath of a serious earthquake and is willing to help victims better cope with disasters, he said.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday announced it would donate NT$100,000 to China and NT$50,000 to Myanmar.
TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) also urged party members, employees and supporters to donate a day’s wages to relief efforts.
Meanwhile, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) promised to coordinate civil organizations’ relief work for victims and urged ARATS to accept Taiwan’s offers of help and put political concerns aside.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
Also See: EDITORIAL: Taiwan gives with an open heart
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